Close your eyes, and start dreaming: you are in Venice, you are drinking a spritz with a beautiful view on the Canal Grande, happily stuffing yourself with sarde in saor and baccalà mantecato (sweet and sour sardines and creamed codfish). Sure, once you open your eyes again you won’t actually have the wonderful Venice canal in front of you, you will see Milan’s canals instead. We are at Bàcaro Navigli! Nevertheless, this combination of spritz and cicchetti, the typical Venetian snacks, will still work wonderfully, especially if you throw a bit of old Milan into the mix, with its typical charm made of hidden courtyards like the ones framing this newly opened location, where you can taste typical Venetian fare, choosing between having it as a small aperitif or as an actual dinner.
We went there a few evenings ago to bid farewell to a fellow German editor (we will miss you, Estelle!) and we introduced her to the most typical Venetian dishes, enjoying them with countless bottles of red wine and spritz, cozying up together in the warm, familiar atmosphere of this place, that has nothing to do with the recent New York-style dining options that seem to be popping up everywhere in Milan: this place actually focuses on its Italian character, making it into a strength. Don’t expect to see dishes you will want to post on Instagram, or complex cocktails with long lists of ingredients: what you do here is drink and eat for less than 7 euro, and if the presentation might seem cheap and cheerful, that’s because what you are having is absolutely authentic. This is the perfect place to warm your heart on an ice-cold evening, cheering again and again, forgetting your phone in your bag – for once.